E-bike rider critically injured after crashing into pole while allegedly fleeing police
A man riding a helmetless e-bike who crashed into a pole while allegedly evading police in Sydney’s south-west is in a critical condition.
NSW Police said officers attempted to stop the 39-year-old man after seeing him cycling without a helmet on Bungulla Street in Sadlier at around 11pm on Saturday.
Police claimed that after spotting officers, the driver drove away before crashing into a pole. The seriously injured person was treated at the scene and taken to Liverpool Hospital in a critical condition.
Police declared the crash a critical incident and launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident, overseen by the Police Service Commission.
Deputy Commissioner Brett McFadden is expected to speak about the incident on Sunday morning.
The crash comes as emergency doctors welcome a crackdown on illegal e-bikes after several Sydney hospitals reported a two-fold increase in e-bike-related serious injuries.
Trauma doctors at St Vincent’s Hospital in Darlinghurst treated 200 patients for injuries sustained while riding e-bikes last year, new figures show.
Last week the Children’s Hospital at Westmead and Sydney Children’s Hospital at Randwick treated 35 children injured by e-bikes and e-scooters this year, ranging from scrapes and fractures to suspected spinal and serious head injuries.
There were at least five e-bike-related deaths in NSW last year. In July, a 14-year-old boy died when he fell off his bike, which his parents bought online and believed to be an e-bike, but was actually closer to a motorcycle in structure. It was announced that a 65-year-old male pedestrian died after being hit by an e-bike in Toongabbie in October.
In December, an e-bike rider in his 30s died after colliding with a garbage truck in Ultimo.
Under proposed new laws, police would be given powers to seize and crush illegal e-bikes amid growing concerns over the popularity of high-powered vehicles called “fat bikes”.
The state government will also introduce technology that will allow police to conduct roadside tests to determine whether e-bikes exceed power limits.
New portable “dyno units” that measure a vehicle’s power output will be used to determine whether an e-bike’s power assist has been cut off at 25 kilometers per hour, the legal limit in NSW.
Dozens of e-bike riders have flocked to the venues as part of a growing trend among young people riding the vehicles.
Earlier this month around 40 e-bike riders descended on the Sydney Harbor Bridge and CBD in a mass march that police described as “incredibly irresponsible, stupid and downright dangerous”.
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